Dovetail Splines

This morning I had a bit of time in the shop after some of the usual homeowner fare.  So I built this extremely visually engaging jig.

Not so much – but it works well at cutting dovetails slots across mitered corners.

Using the same dovetail bit, I can then make a spline piece to fill into these slots.   The case is red oak. The splines are walnut.

The two dovetail splines are towards the back of the case. I straight spine will go towards the front, and the door piece will be cut away.
When these are dry I can finish cutting away the spline and sand it flush.

February Christmas?

Friday morning I built my router table fence.

Accessories like the stop block, guard and feather board, run across the t-track on the top.  The bottom two panels slide to accept larger size bits that would be partially behind the fence face. Or they close flush.

From the back you see the wingnuts for the lower panels and knobs for the upper panel. The top panel raises as well (or comes off), if I ever needed more clearance for bits, or was in a situation where not having the top panel worked easier.

The box in the back isn’t finished yet, that’ll have a 5″ dust collection hose running from it that will be hooked up when the fence is open.  The under table dust hose already collects most of it.  With the back hose hooked up it should be fairly dust free routing.

Router fence cost? The plywood was cut offs from the trash or other projects of mine, the hardware (wingnuts, etc) was $3. The track and knobs was $15, the clamps that attach it to the table saw fence were $15.  The laminated plywood for the fence was a free offcut from a cabinet shop.  The $33 router table fence!

On Saturday we did the Craigslist thing in the morning. I had set up a time to meet with someone who was getting rid of a bunch of woodworking tools.  I got this, new-in-box, Stanley #5 jack plane for a sweet $35.  New, they go for about double.

The main reason I was going was to pick up this though – a Jet jointer.

The bed is 6″ wide and 46″ long.  It’s got a one HP motor and a rabetting ledge. It has a three knife cutterhead, the dust chute works well, and it came with two replacement set of blades, the manual, and a cover. I got it cleaned up, waxed the bed, squared up the fence and aligned the tables.  I think it vibrates a bit more than it should, but it works really well.   I think even putting it on a rubber mat will help with vibration.

I got it from the original owner, who bought it in 2001.  New, on Amazon, they are $800, and a single set of replacement knives are $25.  I got it for $150.  Like I said – February Christmas.

How Logs are Cut.

The lumberyard I go to cuts everything plainsawn.  Most places do, since this is much easier for the mill and doesn’t waste any wood.  The faces of the boards show cathedral like grain patterns often showcased in panels on doors, etc.

One problem with plainsawn boards is that they have a greater tendency to warp.  Think of a log as having a bunch of rubber bands around it – this creates a tension in the board to want to pull towards the center.  When boards are cut away, this tension is still in them, and they warp towards the heartwood, or center.

Quartersawing is another way to cut out usable lumber.  The emphasis here is to minimize that wood tension.  Most of these cuts work radially from the center, or try to.

This radial cuts is the best since, once the wood is dry, the movement is minimal.  In oak, this also produces rays or flecks.  Woodworkers get all excited about these and they look cool.

Here is another image demonstrating tangential vs radial cuts.

Luckily, in the grain is straight, this prized radial cutting doesn’t require any sawing at all.  Since the wood tends to split along those grain lines. Especially with the help of a froe.

Of course, you could do this anywhere if you were really into it.

I don’t have a froe, nor do I really think I’d use one enough (although some careful thought and wedges could produce good results too.).  I did take advantage of an oak tree taken down in the neighborhood a while back though.  Picking up some of the straighter logs from the roadside pile.  I just used a maul to quarter the logs best I could.  I didn’t have any wedges (either iron, or wood harder than the oak) so I cut end up cutting on the bandsaw.   I kept to the radial lines as much as possible. And here are the results.    Lots of neat rays in the oak.

I cut these months ago, and they’re now dry enough to mill square.

While the Glue Dries

So last Wednesday morning before work I got around to a few thing in the shop.

I got the start of the display case glued up.  The space above the shelves get narrower towards the top. You can’t tell as much in this picture because of the angle the photograph was taken.

 Yes, it would make more sense to apply the finish first.  I am going to experiment with a wood conditioner or pre-stain grain filler though on a few test pieces.   It’s easier to finish parts first, but not a necessity, and the final finish won’t really suffer either way.   I was looking forward to getting it glued up, so on my next day off I can get to the dovetail splines on the router table.

Speaking of router tables, while the glue was drying on this box, I made arrangements to meet with a guy I know who does a lot of laminate work for offices and big businesses etc.  He had set some scrap aside for me for my new router table fence.  So I went to pick that up.

Nothing like a free 3/4 birch plywood board with laminate on both sides to get excited about!

Sah-weet! And I got the T-Track and hardware on sale a while back.  So at some point this stuff turns into this:

It’s already insane how much dust is collected from the intake underneath the table.  So an integrated intake in the fence will probably make for fairly dust free routing – an operation that is usually, along with sanding, known for being the messiest.

I was also able to get some more dimensioning done on the cedar. Enough in fact that I got to move on to some of the boards too large for my jointer, that needed one side handplaned ‘flat enough’ for the planer.

Party on.